I started getting lots of requests for help right after 9/11 when marketing was the first thing to get cut across the board. I had more work and clients than I could service by myself so I started calling the best people I worked with in my career. I jokingly referred to the women as the Marketing Mavens and the guys as the Marketing Moguls and for short I called them Mavens & Moguls, it stuck and here we are almost 9 years later still going strong!

Were you always in marketing?

I actually started on Wall Street in the 80s after college! I worked as a Financial Analyst for 2 years and decided to go back for my MBA and “rebranded” myself as a marketer. I worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble, ran a joint venture for the Olympic Games in Atlanta, was assistant to the Chief Marketing Officer at Coca-Cola and then ran marketing at 3 successful startup companies before founding Mavens & Moguls.

There are so many “marketing consultants” out there, why do people hire your firm?

I like to think of Mavens & Moguls as the gold standard and “seal of approval” for the best marketing talent so clients come to us because they need expert help with market research, public relations, copywriting, web design or maybe because they have a key person going out on maternity leave and need someone to step in for a few months to handle the marketing function. We can help on a project or retainer basis and because everyone in the group has ~20 years of experience we really hit the ground running. I have people in 14 cities across the US and key markets overseas as well. Sometimes we are their marketing department and other times we are an extension of the in house team or agency of record. We work across all categories and have clients such as Virgin, Colgate, The New York Times and Microsoft but we also work with startups who need a logo, tag line, web site or brochures. I love the variety!

What are the key traits you think make for a successful entrepreneur?

The best entrepreneurs I know are passionate about what they are doing, persistent/never give up and creative/innovative. Having a good sense of humor helps too!

What is the one piece of advice you would offer to someone contemplating starting a business?

It is a lot easier to collect a paycheck so you better be genuinely passionate about what you are doing almost fanatical about it because if you aren’t as founder/CEO why will anyone else be?

What was the primary reason you started your company?

Right after 9/11, people kept coming out of the woodwork asking me to help them with their marketing and I finally said yes then the floodgates opened. Not a bad way to start a company actually, you have customers before you even admit you are open for business.

What do you do for fun?

I love sports, movies and travel. Having grown up in New Orleans I am a huge Saints fan and now living in Boston I love the Celtics and Red Sox too. I chair the Board of Trustees at the Sports Museum at the Boston Garden. Any excuse to go to France or Italy, count me in! I was an exchange student in France in high school and Italy in college so am always looking for ways to practice my French & Italian!

How can people find you to learn more?

Best way is through my web site www.MavensAndMoguls.com I have lots of articles posted about marketing, personal branding, lessons learned, starting a company, being an entrepreneur, etc.